Category Archives: Pittsburgh Penguins

Five days ago, Phil Kessel became a Pittsburgh Penguin in a trade that brought Kasperi Kapanen, Scott Harrington, Nick Spaling and a first-round selection back to the Toronto Maple Leafs. But even though it’s been nearly a week, it appears the trade still stings the 27-year-old Kessel.

According to poker star Daniel Negreanu, a Toronto native who has become friends with Kessel, being shipped out by the Maple Leafs was an emotional experience for the goal-scoring winger.

It remains to be seen how the speculation will be affected by the Blues recent trade of winger T.J. Oshie to the Washington Capitals. If they’re still fielding inquiries about Shattenkirk, Rutherford suggests the 26-year-old blueliner’s contract could be the issue. Shattenkirk has two years left on his deal at an average cap hit of $4.25 million. The Blues already have considerable long-term contracts invested in blueliners Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester. Rutherford notes they won’t part with Pietrangelo, while Bouwmeester’s struggles last season could hurt his trade value. Read more

The same day Connor McDavid wore his Edmonton Oiler colors for the first time ever on the ice, his bosses were upstairs going about the process of giving him some legitimate NHL players to surround him.

It’s difficult, nay impossible, to declare the winners and losers of a free agent frenzy day before Canada Day has even included, but it’s difficult to not get excited about what’s going on in western Canada these days. The oil patch has been sucked dry of good hockey for so long that sometimes it looked as though neither the Oilers nor the Calgary Flames were ever going to get it right.

The first thing fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs will have to get their heads around is that there’s a very good chance Phil Kessel will go to the Pittsburgh Penguins and score 40 goals a year. He might even score more. He could end up being wildly successful with the Penguins and might even win a Stanley Cup there. Kessel could end up being happier and more productive than he ever was in Toronto. And people will have to learn to be perfectly OK with that.

Because that’s very well what might happen here. But the Maple Leafs traded their franchise player on free agent day because they knew he was never, ever going to do those things for them. Kessel was a terrible fit from the day he first signed with the Leafs, cast in the role of the face of the franchise and the undisputed leader by a GM who obviously failed to do his homework on the player. And the problem was perpetuated when his successor signed Kessel to an eight-year deal worth $64 million prior to last season.

Amidst news defenseman Christian Ehrhoff wouldn’t be returning to Pittsburgh for 2015-16, the Penguins announced Monday that they have come to terms on a three-year deal with blueliner Ian Cole.

The Penguins acquired Cole, 26, at the trade deadline this past season in a deal that sent Robert Bortuzzo and a seventh-round draft pick in 2016 to St. Louis. Cole was a first-round selection, 18th overall, of the Blues in 2007, but on a crowded Blues blueline that included Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester and Kevin Shattenkirk, there wasn’t room to keep Cole around.

Cole’s new contract, however, makes him cap-friendly for a young defenseman with what looks to be good potential. His three-year contract carries an annual cap hit of $2.1 million. Read more

It had been reported earlier that Ehrhoff would likely hit the open market, with Curran telling Mike Halford of Pro Hockey Talk that he, “would suggest (Ehrhoff will) be available come July 1.” The latest report, however, solidifies that the 32-year-old blueliner will be heading elsewhere for the 2015-16 season. Read more

The 2015 NHL draft saw its share of trade activity involving established NHL players. Among the notables to change teams were Dougie Hamilton (Boston to Calgary), Milan Lucic (Boston to Los Angeles), Ryan O’Reilly (Colorado to Buffalo) and Carl Hagelin (Rangers to Anaheim). Even the rights of all-but-retired defensemen Flyers Chris Pronger was moved as part of a swap that also saw Nicklas Grossman shipped from Philadelphia to Arizona for Sam Gagner.

Despite this unusually high volume of players traded, several others who’ve been frequent fixtures in the rumor mill remain on the market.

Considering the increased trade speculation entering the 2015 draft, it’s only fitting Boston Bruins left winger Milan Lucic and defenseman Dougie Hamilton should resurface in the rumor mill. The Ottawa Sun’sBruce Garrioch claims the Bruins are listening to offers for Lucic. The asking price is apparently “big,” though Garrioch didn’t mention specifics.

CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty notes there was talk of the Bruins shipping the 27-year-old Lucic to the New York Rangers for defenseman (and Boston native) Keith Yandle. Another rumor linked the power forward to the Vancouver Canucks for a defenseman. Haggerty claims Canucks blueliner Alex Edler was mentioned in previous Bruins trade rumors. He also wonders if the Bruins could target Kevin Bieksa or Dan Hamhuis.